Los Angeles — Goodbye No. 1 ranking.
Or is it good riddance?
"Maybe this is a team that can't be on top because obviously we can't handle it," KU junior guard Kirk Hinrich said after No. 11 UCLA stuffed the No. 1 Jayhawks, 87-77, on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
"Maybe this will be good for us. Maybe we were too confident. I don't know what the deal is. They just kicked our butts," added Hinrich, who scored 17 points before fouling out with 3:13 left.
The Jayhawks (13-2) climbed to No. 1 in the polls last Monday, their first No. 1 ranking since the 1996-97 season.
They'll dip to No. 2 or 3 or lower next week because of a horrid first half against UCLA (12-3). The bad start included 16 turnovers, 34.4-percent shooting and 56.3 percent shooting by the Bruins.
"I don't know if we handled it (ranking) poorly. I don't think we came out ready to defend it," said KU senior guard Jeff Boschee, who hit three of 11 threes and scored 14 points with five assists and no turnovers.
Drew Gooden had 22 points and 10 boards, but he and Aaron Miles each suffered five turnovers, while Hinrich had four. All of Miles' turnovers and all but one of Gooden's came in the first half as UCLA breezed to a 46-35 lead.
"It's the poorest half we've played this year," KU coach Roy Williams said. "You can't turn the ball over 16 times against a good team and expect to do anything."
Yet
"We dug ourselves a hole and fought our way back. We had the ball down three with two minutes left in the game and we turned the ball right back over," said Gooden, who tied a school record with his seventh straight double-double in his return to his home state.
A turnover thwarted a late KU comeback. The Jayhawks, who trailed by a game-high 15 points (55-40) with 15:32 left and nine points (78-69) with 2:59 to play, rallied behind Gooden's eight points to cut the gap to 80-77 at 1:42.
Gooden, who had five steals, stole a Cedric Bozeman pass, and the ball ended up with Nick Collison, who was called for a walk after a spin move in the lane.
Billy Knight then somehow escaped a KU trap and was fouled, hitting two free throws at 1:05 to boost UCLA's lead to 82-77. Knight hit two more free throws at :39.6 after a Gooden miss and KU foul, assuring UCLA's fans a joyous romp onto the court to mob the players after the final horn.
"We thought it was a foul, the referees called it a walk. It's the way it goes in college basketball sometimes," Williams said of Collison's travel call.
"I felt traffic in the middle of the lane. I don't think I got hammered," Collison said after scoring six points before fouling out after having played 23 minutes. "I caught the ball and was trying to make a play."
He and Gooden found the going tough inside against UCLA's matchup zone defense. Collison attempted just four shots, hitting two, while Gooden made seven of 17 just two of six the first half.
"They are so long at every position, it's hard to get any openings," Collison said. "There's long arms everywhere."
"We couldn't get the ball down low," Gooden noted. "They are so long and tall. Their point guard is 6-6. They had a lot of length in that zone.
"I had a really bad game. It wasn't good enough for my team to win. We can't dwell on this. I can't dwell on this."
Gooden sparked the Jayhawks during their late comeback, as did Hinrich. Gooden hit two free throws, which were followed by a pair of Hinrich threes in an 8-0 run that cut a 65-53 deficit to 65-61 at 8:01.
Hinrich picked up his fourth foul at 5:53 with KU down 73-65. He left the floor and was brought back by Williams with 4:39 to play.
Hinrich was called for an intentional foul and fouled out at 3:13, and Dan Gadzuric hit one of two free throws to make it 77-69.
"To bounce back and play the way we did the second half I was pleased," Williams said. "Drew and Kirk kind of put us on their backs on the offensive end. Maybe I put him (Hinrich) back in too early. He was dying to get in there."
Hinrich said he had no idea whether his hack on Gadzuric was intentional.
"I don't know what an intentional foul is anymore," Hinrich said. "Maybe they should call it a 'too hard foul.' I wrapped him up."
He watched with interest from the bench as KU rallied late only to see UCLA hit seven of eight free throws in the final 1:05 to assure the victory.
"We made a run, then did some things not smart and it's 10 points again," Hinrich said.
"They came out and played well and we didn't," Collison added. "It took us forever to get back where we were playing well and it didn't last very long."
One could point to certain plays down the stretch, but the Jayhawks probably lost this one in the first half.
"We weren't being strong with the ball and they hit shots," freshman Miles said. "Coach took me out and told me I had to take care of the ball."
Williams applauded a gutsy effort by UCLA. Matt Barnes scored 27 points 16 the first half while Knight had 20 after making 11 of 13 free throws. Gadzuric and Jason Kapono had 13 and 10 points respectively.
"Everything we tried to do, they were able to react and counter," Williams said of the first half. "We had 16 turnovers. Their defense gets credit for bothering us. Sixteen turnovers in the first half and shooting 34 percent, you are lucky to be down 11. I felt we'd be there at the end. I promised the kids at halftime we'd be there at the end. We just didn't do a good job under pressure in the last few minutes."
And so KU says goodbye to its top ranking.
"Maybe we'll be No. 1 at the end of the year," Boschee said.
"We were No. 1 for a week. It's still a good team whether we're ranked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5," Gooden said.
KU will meet Oklahoma State at 8:05 p.m. Tuesday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla.
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